Work and other problems
by bastet-sachmet
Summary: [ Sequel to Santa's Helper] Neal's new case leads him to Rebecca's new full time working place. He and Peter have to find out she is everything but pleased. [Normal Life series part 9] [Neal x Rebecca]


_Disclaimer: We don't own anything. Everything belongs to USA Network and Jeff Eastin._

_Author's note: Uhm yeah, Rebecca is going to become OOC since this piece was written weeks ago. Hopefully no one minds. There will be other stories following this one._

* * *

With a happy smile and two cups of coffee Neal entered the bullpen. Peter already waited for him at his desk with a face that told Neal they had a new case.  
"You are so happy today."  
"Am I not allowed to?" Neal shot back with a grin.  
"What are you up to?"  
"Nothing."  
"Did Rebecca stay over night?"  
"No. Why can't I just have a good mood?"  
"Because if you have a good mood there is always something behind it." Peter replied annoyed and got up. He took the second coffee and made Neal follow him.  
"We have a new case?"  
"Yeah, we will take a look at the crime scene now."  
"What happened?"  
"You know the Star of India?"  
"It's one of the largest sapphires in the world. It was found in Sri Lanka, donated to the American Museum of Natural History here in New York in 1900 and stolen 1964. It was found months later in Miami. Why are you asking?"  
"Because it seemed like someone exchanged it with a forgery."  
Neal stopped and looked surprised at Peter.  
"Forged? The Star of India? That must have taken months to do that. How did they find out?"  
"They took a check up on security and wanted to rearrange the gems when one of the employees noticed the gem was too light to be a sapphire."  
"Wait, we are going to the American Museum?" Neal asked suddenly not so happy anymore.  
"Of course, what are you thinking?"  
"Can Jones go with you?"  
"He wouldn't know if this is a forgery as fast as you do. What's the matter anyway?"  
"Rebecca works there."  
"Since when?"  
"A few weeks. She is taking care of the educational library and steps in as guide sometimes."  
Peter pinched the brick of his nose and looked at Neal uncomprehending.  
"You don't want to come along because your girlfriend works there?"  
"It sounds so stupid out of your mouth."  
"It is stupid!"  
"She will kill me if I appear there." Neal told serious worried about his own safety.  
"Not when you are there in official FBI matters."  
"I don't think she will make a difference there..."  
Pissed of Peter grabbed Neal by his collar and dragged him with him.

When they entered the museum it was quit funny how Neal looked around afraid Rebecca will appear around every corner. With silent satisfaction Peter watched him being so jumpy. They almost arrived at their crime scene when they heard Rebecca's voice.  
"...and after the restoration we should digitize it before it is lost forever...Neal?"  
Neal flinched and slowly turned around.  
"Hi Rebecca."  
"I follow later, Mira."  
Her colleague nodded and went on while Rebecca came over to Neal and Peter.  
"What the hell are you doing here?" she whispered angry.  
"Official FBI matters." Neal replied a bit sheepish.  
"I promise you if I get fired again because of you I kill you. I guess Moz knows how to get rid of a body."  
He shot Peter a glance that said "I told you."  
"Rebecca, listen, Neal has nothing else to do here than what I am asking him to do."  
She blinked at Peter.  
"The same counts for you. Getting fired twice in a year doesn't look good in a vita. And what official FBI matters? I don't know...oh gosh it's about the Star of India, isn't it?"  
"What do you know?" Peter asked her all agent.  
"Just rumors this morning when I arrived. I overheard Steve talking to a fellow security there is something off with the gem."  
"It seems like it got forged." Neal explained her.  
"Forged? How can you forge a gem?"  
"This is something Moz can explain." Peter told unhappy.  
"I guess I don't want to know this. But I need to go."  
"Of course,...uhm you will come over in the evening?", Neal asked carefully.  
"Of course." she kissed him quickly and moved on. Peter rolled his eyes.  
"You two are unbelievable."  
"Why? We didn't do anything."  
"Except for her threat?"  
"You know she is right. Getting fired twice a year really doesn't look good in her vita."

Some hours later Rebecca was on her way up to the bullpen and fuming like hell. She had some kind of bad deja vu feeling. Like an ancient revenge goddess she walked through the bullpen up to Peter's office. Jones watched her walking by and turned to his colleague next to him.  
"Did you see Caffrey somewhere?"  
"No, he disappeared half an hour ago."  
"Smart man."  
Rebecca knocked at the door and entered Peter's office.  
"What the hell is going on? My boss sent me home and you called me to come over. I'm not willing to lose another job just because the FBI thinks they can mess up my resume over and over again. It took me so long to get this new job and I mostly got it because of one of June's friend who knows the curator and wrote me a really good letter of reference. What am I doing here? I swear if I return to work tomorrow and I hear that I got fired again you all have much bigger problems than a forged sapphire."  
"Rebecca, at first all employees had got sent home because several teams are looking for evidence and you said earlier that you overheard a conversation regarding the forged piece."  
"I don't care if all have been sent home. I'm the only one who had been suspected in an art heist months ago."  
"But your name was cleared."  
"Oh yes, but that didn't detain my former boss from firing me."  
"I know but could you please come down and try to remember what you heard?"  
"How am I supposed to come down when I have to fear that I might get fired?"  
"You won't. You're only a witness, nothing more."  
"I hope so. Where's Neal?"  
"He isn't here?"  
"I didn't see him at his desk. Is he at the museum now?"  
"Uhm,... yeah, he is. He should check how it was possible to exchange the gems?"  
Rebecca slightly chuckled.  
"He has left when he heard that I come here knowing I'm in the mood to bite some heads off?"  
"I guess so. What have you done? I've never seen him behaving this way..."  
"I told him that he will have to suffer if he interferes with any new job of mine and risks that I get fired."  
"Oh..."  
"Peter, do you think that Neal has something to do with the forgery of that sapphire?"  
"I must admit that he knows how to forge gems but..."  
"Oh please, tell me that he didn't do it."  
"After I saw how he reacted less than an hour ago and this morning I would say he would rather break in at a high security prison than stealing this certain sapphire when he know you are working there. Not that he wouldn't be able to pull this off..."  
"Good." Rebecca sighed relieved, "Sorry for my outburst."  
"No problem, I understand your position. So will you come down now with me?"  
"Yeah, sure."  
Peter guided her to the conference room and waved Jones up. Only a minute later she sat there with the two agents.  
"Ok, Rebecca, from the start. What did you hear when you arrived at work?"  
"Well, Steve was there. He is the head of security and always takes night shifts and opens for me because I am always first at work and he need to let me in. He had this new guy with him. Timmy or Tommy was his name. He started only two weeks after me."  
"Can you describe this guy?" Jones asked.  
"He is maybe in his mid twenties, tall and looks like he tried to imitate Arnold Schwarzenegger but shy like a toddler."  
Peter and Jones chuckled and made their notes.  
"He started to work there only a few weeks ago?"  
"Yeah, but the weird thing is he always hangs around Steve or Bobby. They are the oldest in the security team and usually the new guy get only a week to get acquainted with the routine."  
"They still keep him close?"  
"Yeah, this is weird if you think about it."  
"And what did you hear?"  
"Steve said there is a problem with the sapphire and the other one should check the surveillance cameras if they missed something."  
"When did you arrive?" Peter asked with a frown.  
"It was almost eight."  
"We got the call an hour later."  
"Time enough to delete any surveillance tape they needed." Jones added.  
"You think they pulled it off?" Rebecca asked astonished.  
"The only thing we can be sure is it was an insider job."  
"I guess this means I need to make up to Neal for thinking he might have something to do with it."  
Jones and Peter chuckled again.  
"Don't worry he is used to it." the younger agent calmed her down.  
"Maybe from you guys but …..."  
"Rebecca..." Peter started.  
"No, just let it go. If you don't need me anymore I go home now."  
"Of course."  
Peter looked uncomfortable and lead her to the elevator. About fifteen minutes later Neal came back and gave the impression she caught him on his way back and gave him a piece of her mind.  
"Hey, you ok?" Jones asked.  
"Yeah..."  
"Met your girlfriend downstairs?"  
"Yeah...do you know why she is pissed off?"  
"You should ask her."

Neal came home later than usual. When he entered the house he got stopped by June who wore an unreadable expression.  
"Neal, do you have a minute?"  
"Sure...how can I help?"  
"I think it's you who need help. Rebecca is upstairs and she was angry when she came here."  
Neal sighed.  
"I know. Our new case made us investigate the American Museum."  
"You closed the case?"  
"We did but it was an insider job and..."  
"She got suspected again because of you." June nodded understanding.  
"In the end it was her who gave us the right lead."  
"Really?"  
"Yes, she overheard the guys who did it without knowing what she heard."  
"Good she knows you."  
"Yeah and if I wouldn't have run into her at the museum and she told us there she heard something it would have taken days till we came to her for interrogation and the real guys will be long gone."  
"In the end the she helped. If you tell her this I think everything will be fine again."  
"I hope so. I didn't expect her to come after this."  
"You should have learned to not underestimate her by now." June smiled and hugged him.  
"Thanks, June."  
"Not for this. And now upstairs with you. It's not fair to let a lady wait."  
Neal gave her an amused look and went to his penthouse. Before he entered he listened if he could hear her but everything was silent. Carefully he opened the door and peeked inside. With a frown he noticed he couldn't see her and entered completely. He looked around and found her dozing in his bed wearing one of his shirts and cuddled up to his pillow with her smartphone in her hand. With a smile he sneaked up to her and sat down on his side of the bed.  
"Hey sleeping beauty."  
"Neal?" she asked sleepy.  
"Yeah."  
"You are late."  
"I am sorry. We could close the case thanks to you."  
"You could?"  
"Yes, those two securities you overheard did it together with a friend from outside."  
"You are kidding me. You caught them because I overheard that piece of their conversation?"  
"That's the case."  
"I would never think it would be them." Rebecca replied thoughtful.  
"I know. If we wouldn't know each other and you wouldn't walk into me we never would have caught them so fast."  
"That explains the call I got from my boss an hour ago."  
"What call?"  
"My boss called my and told me he wants to get me a wage rise because I helped to get the Star of India back."  
"So you are not angry with me?" Neal asked just to be sure.  
"No. I wasn't angry with you. I was angry with Peter, those idiots who stole the gem and I was angry with myself because I was so stupid to think you could have done this after Peter let slip Mozzie know how to forge a gem. I am so stupid to think you would do this when you promised me to do nothing that would risk my job but on the other side it's really a beautiful sapphire."  
"Wait, stop my rambling beauty. You thought I could have done that?"  
"I am sorry, Neal. I..."  
He kissed her to make her stop talking. After they broke the kiss he smiled at her.  
"I am a little disappointed you don't trust me but I am flattered you think I could pull something like this."  
"You've done more complicated stuff before."  
"Every heist has it's own complications." Neal explained and put her phone away.  
"Sounds like hard work."  
"It is but it's nothing compared..."  
"Compared to what?" Rebecca asked fully awake.  
"Compared to relationships but some are worth all the trouble."  
"And we're actually having one?"  
"We do and it's absolutely worth all the trouble we already had."  
"Oh..."  
"Rebecca, why you're so wary about us? It's like if you would need to reassure yourself every now and then that I love you. What makes you so insecure?"  
"My dad... see, my mom was it who made me interested in old books and their history. And if you look at pictures from her and me... it's just like looking into a mirror. I even got her habit of rambling when we get all flustered. My dad always wanted to have a son and I thought about to do something that would make him interested in me but... I didn't feel comfortable to be a tomboy just to hear 'I love you' from my dad when he loves me for something I'm not. It happened that he left us for a twenty-something tennis trainer running by the name of Sheila. The last months he stayed with us he let us feel every second that we're not worth his love and attention. Books became some kind of escape for me so I wouldn't have to confront myself that the quirky bookworm charm that once worked its magic had faded and that I would probably end like my mom. The day he left he said to me that I should change and live in the real world than in the fairytale that books provide. To break it down he told me that no one would ever love me if I stay the way I am."  
"How old were you back then?"  
"12 nearly 13. And yes I mostly dated guys who just saw me as an exception from their usual hunting grounds, some smart girl before they got bored or scared of me and dumped for the next shallow girl who would wholehearted flatter their egos."  
"I guess I'm the complete wrong person to say that but we're not like our parents. We may incur some traits or habits from them but we're definitely not the same like them."  
"I know but I also remember pretty vivid how it was when my dad left and how my mom felt. I don't want to end up the same and Neal, I'm not blind. I see how other people react when they see you, especially women. That one evening when we went out for dinner and we didn't have a reservation? Gosh, that girl there she would have cleared the whole restaurant if you'd have asked her to do so."  
"But I was there with you and you're the one who went home afterwards with me not her."  
"I know but you didn't see her look at me like if she wanted to say: 'What does he want from something like her? He could do better.' And everyone until now chose better than obviously being with me. And that's also why I asked Peter if you would be capable of that jewelery because using me for information, key cards whatever... it would be a reason to be with me. I don't trust you because I don't think you're trustworthy. It's more the thought of me not being worth spending time with."  
"That's not true and you know this. Your dad was an asshole living out his midlife crisis on you and your mom."  
"But you needed me for that codex..."  
Surprised Neal starred at her.  
"You thought I would break up once we manage to decipher that codex?"  
"Who knows... that everyone keeps on saying I am an exception for you...it brought back all those feelings and even if this is getting better slowly I still fall back to that kind of believing still waiting for the moment you drop me like an unwanted teddy bear."  
He pulled her close and looked at her serious.  
"You know I happen to like teddy bears. Especially the old ones. They have character."  
"Don't make fun of me."  
"I am not. And if someone knows how it feels that your dad influenced everything you did it's me."  
"I know. That's why I told you. I never told that someone before."  
"Do you think I would have been so worried to interfere with your new job or that I'd like to have you around here every day when I would only need your help regarding the codex?"  
"Maybe it's just to keep me at bay so I'll still help you..."  
"Rebecca, this is rubbish. And that you get told you're an exception... with all the other ones it didn't work out. I'm not with you just only because of your cleverness and your obsession with the codex. I know I did some stupid things in my life but I'm not so stupid to let you go. So is there anything I can do to get those thoughts out of your beautiful head?"  
"I don't know," Rebecca sighed, "It's a pattern I've repeated for years and I don't want to go through that again."  
"But as you see you can learn to break through that pattern."  
"Huh?"  
"I made it to get over my pattern and let you into my life. And I want to keep you in it."  
"Yeah but there are still patterns you should change a bit." she replied with a sad smirk.  
"Like?"  
"Like flirting with every woman?"  
"Are you jealous?"Neal asked amused.  
"Maybe." Rebecca hide under her pillow.  
"Maybe? Only maybe? I am hurt."  
He tried to took her pillow away but she hold on tight.  
"Yes, maybe. If I say yes it will only boost your ego."  
"What's the problem with it?"  
"Yours is already big enough!" she snickered and lost the fight. Neal looked into her flushed face what made her giggle nervous.  
"You think?"  
"I do."  
"Well then I take my big ego and order some pizza and we work to get this silly idea out of your head."  
"The first part sounds good. I am starving."  
"And the second part?"  
"Depends on your methods."


End file.
